It’s been weeks since I’ve made one of these posts. As I’ve said before, writing is not an exact science. It takes you in unexpected directions, and sometimes you just have to follow them where they lead. That’s been the effective theme of the past few months for me in writing.

The biggest change over the past several weeks has been my pivot to expanding and improving The Ursa Frontier in preparation for the next round of queries. And that process has reached an exciting new phase as of tonight.

A New Chapter

As regular readers will know, I’ve been working on infusing a lot more interiority into The Ursa Frontier. I’ve tried to get to know characters better, let them tell the story in their own voices. But amid the recent change to The Ursa Frontier, I’ve found myself with a substantial amount of additional real estate to work with. That led to some unexpected ideas.

Those ideas culminated in my work over the past several days: the first new chapter of The Ursa Frontier since I wrote the initial draft. Since that time, I’ve removed a lot of material. But this is the first time I’ve added an entire new chapter. I dare say it turned out very well, though of course revisions tomorrow will likely tell a different story.

But while the new chapter was gratifying, perhaps more than anything it underscored to me the reality of how much I’d rushed in this book. Always keeping an eye on my wordcount, I’d really pushed the story along, at times dragging characters kicking and screaming from one plot point to the next. I felt like the worst dad on a car trip: constantly checking his watch, limiting breaks, never letting everyone get out and just look around.

Finally allowing myself to really dig deeper into this story led to revisiting subplots that have remained unchanged so long they may as well have been chiseled in stone. And here I came with my hammer. The thing is, I’d had concerns about a lot of this from the start. But as I’ve said before, stare at something long enough, and you learn to live with it. Like the tacky brass chandelier in my foyer, I just started to live with the somewhat lazy plot points that crop up here and there. Except I don’t need a ladder and experience in wiring to fix all of this.

So, I did.

The new chapter has furthered a growing gap in continuity. It builds on chapters I’ve previously expanded, and will necessitate further revisions both before and after. And the hell of it is, I’m not done with new material. I have plans for at least another two or three new chapters, and have begun to reconsider where to leave off with this first installment of the series. I have a lot of decisions to make.

For the first time in years, it’s safe to say The Ursa Frontier is…well, a mess. But it’s a fun mess. The kind you get when you have a pile of clay in front of you, and you’re finally starting to see what it’s supposed to be. I’m getting a clearer picture by the day.

And honestly, the most incredible thing about all of this is that I truly believe this story is getting even better. – MK